Track a yearly bill like council tax
Enter the yearly total, pay it off in monthly instalments, and watch the balance come down.
Illustration — the highlighted parts are where to look.
Steps
- 1Choose “Add yearly bill” on the Dashboard (or on the Yearly bills page). The form opens with Recurrence already set to “Yearly (paid monthly)” — ordinary bills no longer offer it, as yearly bills are tracked here.
- 2Enter the full yearly amount — for council tax, the amount for the whole year. It is spread over the 12 months of the year, so there is nothing else to fill in; the yearly amount and how many instalments it is split over can both be changed later.
- 3Set the date of the first instalment. The Dashboard shows that month’s instalment, then each following month in turn.
- 4Mark each instalment as paid as you pay it; the amount comes straight off the balance.
- 5Use “Add payment” to record money paid outside the monthly instalments — useful if you added the bill after your payments had already started.
- 6Open “Yearly bills” from your profile menu for a page listing every yearly bill, with the total still to pay, a filter for bills that are cleared, and each bill’s full instalment history. It opens on the bills that still have something to pay — choose “All” to see every yearly bill.
- 7Open “Yearly bills” and choose “Add yearly bill” (or use the “Add yearly bill” button on the Dashboard, which opens that form straight away) to add another annual bill without touching the ordinary bill form.
- 8Use Edit on a yearly bill to change its yearly amount, or to say how many monthly instalments it is split over (council tax is often 10) — the months still to pay are shared out again to match.
- 9If the monthly amounts differ, choose “Create monthly bills” on the Yearly bills page: each month is listed with its own amount box. Type the amount for a month and the other months still to pay adjust themselves to keep your yearly total the same — set one month and watch the rest follow — then press Save.
The bill card shows the remaining balance, how much you have paid with a progress bar, and how many payments are left.
The instalments always add up to the yearly amount: the months still to pay share it out to the penny, and the last of them takes the odd pennies. £1,000 over 12 months comes to 11 instalments of £83.33 and a last one of £83.37, so nothing is left over — or short — once every month has been paid.
The months still to pay share out whatever is left of the yearly total, so the yearly total never changes just because one month does. Months you have already paid, and months you set yourself, are left alone.
A month you set yourself is marked “Set by hand”, and the reset button next to it lets it share the yearly total again. A month that is only taking its share is not marked, so changing one month still re-adjusts the rest after you save.
A month can be set to £0, which is handy for the months a council tax bill asks nothing for — a £1,800 bill over 12 months could be £0, £0 and ten months of £180.
Changing the yearly total, or the number of instalments, re-shares the months still to pay in equal instalments.
Setting a month’s amount does not change what is already paid: paying that month still comes off the balance by the amount you set.
The Yearly bills page is handy for older bills with a balance left: it keeps them together even after their instalments have been generated.
Payments you add by hand are listed in the “Add payment” dialog, where you can also remove one added by mistake.
To cancel a single instalment, use the bin icon and choose “Delete this one”; it comes off the yearly balance.